Believe in Time
by Larania Drake
Summary: Sequel to Forgotten and Home Work. After a time of joy, Wolfram fulfills his end of the bargain with Shinou, giving up his life. Yuuri doesn't understand and how can his family deal with the loss? Divergence, WxY, others mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

**Believe in Time**

Disclaimer: Kyou Kara Maou does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all. The song is from Tsubasa Chronicle, "You Are My Love". (Yes, I am obsessed with that soundtrack)

Pairings: Wolfram and Yuuri, others mentioned.

A/N: I have started this story before I finished Home Work, because it's been extremely hard for me to concentrate on that one. I want to get back to the angst, darnit. Humor is hard to write for long periods of time.

"I've nearly come to the end," Yuuri announced, quietly and thoughtfully, into the overcast midday of his office.

"End of what?" Murata Ken, former Great Sage, asked blinking at him owlishly.

"The journal you gave me. Though I'm not quite sure I want to."

"Eh?"

Yuuri propped his elbows on the arms of his chair, leaning back and shifting his legs to get the circulation back. Yes, the book was _that_ heavy.

"I don't want to finish your journal- because it's getting close to where Shinou was sealed away. It was hard enough reading through where he had to kill the Sovereign, but I knew it had to happen. It was the years afterwards… You really loved him, and it's not fair that he never loved you back."

Murata smiled sweetly, tilting his head to the side before going to light a few candles in the gloom.

A storm was coming.

"Shinou did what he had to, and I know he loved me in his own way. I think he knew that he could have fallen in love with me, but he loved someone else more."

"I wish I knew who that person was," Yuuri muttered, settling a little more deeply into the chair. "You two would have been a great couple." A stupid smile lit his face. "You would have been nearly as good as Wolfram and me."

Murata laughed. "That still doesn't explain why you don't want to end it."

"Because…"

Murata raised an eyebrow.

Yuuri sighed, eyes dropping to the last page and began to read aloud:

"And that was when he told me.

'_My dear friend, I deserve this fate. There is nothing I can do to ever make things right. I know that it was necessary, the death of He who became the Sovereign- and other things. However, necessity will never absolve me.'_

The sadness in his eyes deepened, and I wondered if the love I had felt could compare to that pain. I wanted nothing more to comfort him, to heal him with the love I had never given voice. Anyone else, I would have told to get on with their lives, to leave the past to die. Yet I could not, with him. I knew that what love I felt would be lost, drowning in his pain and never seen again. He could never forgive himself, and could never forget.

"_I know you do not understand, but you will. There is no power that can forgive me. I have willingly sacrificed any grace given me; I have long since passed the point of no return. I will go into the Seal, and wait for the future. I do this, because without a doubt, the Sovereign will reawaken. I will be there to stop him."_

I hated him then. I hated how he could speak with such absolute certainty. I hated how he would willingly throw away his own life for a person he had known for such a short period of time.

I hated how I could not let him go this path alone, and I knew that while he would willingly give himself into undeath, I would follow him, life after life. I could not let him go this path alone.

I hated myself most of all.

He smiled at me, kissing me on the cheek, and I never saw him again."

Yuuri's voice had turned scratchy towards the end, from overuse and encroaching tears. Murata hadn't been looking at him when he'd spoken, but had let his eyes go unfocused into the middle distance. A strange, almost-smile had bent his lips. It wasn't happiness at the event, but more like touching something old and familiar, and finding comfort in that familiarity.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" he finally said, when Yuuri hadn't said anything for several moments.

"I just… when I first heard about Shinou and the Great Sage, I never really thought of them as people. They were these great historical figures… they did some really cool stuff, but it was like hearing about some guy in a comic book. Now they're _real_."

Murata cocked an eyebrow, getting up to find a snifter of brandy. Yuuri didn't drink… but Murata thought he would need a little help to cope with the rest of the day.

"I would have thought with the whole reincarnation thing they would have been," he said casually, taking a sip and coughing. Well, he was only a teenager in this lifetime…

"It was all pretty unreal," Yuuri answered, sheepishly, looking over at his sleeping son.

Murata smiled when he saw where Yuuri's gaze had turned. He could only imagine what it was like for Yuuri Shibuya, baseball boy, to suddenly become king, parent, and husband within the space of four years. The ancient history of another world, even if you had been intimately involved on a certain level, had to have seemed totally alien.

"But I knew what was going to happen and now… Murata, how do you keep doing this? How can you live with the past?" Yuuri's eyes were begging. "I'm glad I can't remember, because if I remembered hurting someone my past self adored…" Here he winced, and Murata realized that this was one of the few times the wheels in Shibuya's head were starting to turn.

"I mean, Shinou sacrificing himself for someone who would never get to really love him- because I really love Wolfram- and you did the same for Shinou, and he's stuck in the seal. It's just not fair, you know?"

Murata sighed softly.

"I think Shinou had his reasons, and so do I. I want to help my friend, if he ever decides to live again… maybe then, after that, I can rest."

/ Or kick your ass for being anal retentive about it// a voice echoed softly in Murata's mind.

/ Pot and kettle, old man. /

Shinou's voice went silent again, and the conversation abruptly changed when Lawrence woke, whimpering.

"Ah, does the baby have a wet diaper?" Yuuri cooed, heading over to the boy, and Murata smiled.

He could feel the wistful sadness in Shinou's mind, and the smile slipped off his face.

Something was definitely wrong, and Murata thought it had to do with the fact that time was counting down.

Two weeks, and four days left.

Wolfram bolted upright in bed, panting and sweat drenched, and noticed that Yuuri had his upper body draped over the foot of the bed, lower body barely holding on.

"Yuuri?"

"Ouch, Wolfram, that is the last time I try to comfort you having a nightmare…"

"Yuuri!" he yelped, diving down to haul his husband up back on to the mattress. The dark haired king had an impressive bruise blooming on his cheek and Wolfram wanted to cry.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

His husband's black eyes were crossed, but he managed to focus them on Wolfram's flustered face. "N-no… I should be used to dodging you."

Wolfram whimpered, pulling his husband up to his chest.

"Hey- Wolfram, you okay?" Yuuri asked, wheezing from the bone crushing hug. His husband's grip loosened and he could relax. Not that he objected to the cuddling but it was almost desperate. "That had to have been some nightmare."

His husband made a choppy nod.

Pulling away, Yuuri shifted their positions so that Wolfram was cuddled against him, and carefully petted his hair.

"Hey, it's all right. I'm here, you're here, Lawrence, Greta, everyone; we're all okay."

Wolfram didn't say anything, but buried his face in Yuuri's shoulder.

"Back before we were married- remember those dreams?"

Wolfram laughed, breathlessly. "Right before you were…"

Yuuri chuckled. "You were there for me." He gently pressed his lips to Wolfram's hair, letting his hands slide down the larger man's form. "You helped me get back to sleep."

The bright green eyes seemed all the brighter in the faint moonlight.

"Yuuri, you'll never forget me, will you?"

"Never."

"Yuuri… when we were married, I meant it. I will be faithful to you, and only you, for the rest of my life." Wolfram was talking into Yuuri's neck. "I'll fall with you. But if I couldn't come back to you… find someone else." His voice creaked. "Lawrence will need another dad, and so will Greta. You could even find a wife and I'd not be _too_ mad…"

Yuuri sputtered. "You are not going to die and leave me and everything is just _fine_ and if you ever DID die, I'd wait for you. I'd have Shinou take my soul and keep it in a bottle until you were reborn and then we'd love each other again. I _promise_ you that."

Wolfram started to laugh, rubbing his eyes, before kissing his beautiful husband softly, pushing him backwards. Yuuri smiled up at him, threading their fingers together as they moved against one another.

"I love you," he said, between kisses, Wolfram's lips moving to his throat.

"And it was all worth it," he heard his husband whispered, nipping his ear. "All of it."

Yuuri would have questioned that- had he been able to think beyond the feeling of Wolfram's lips on his skin and his hands, memorizing his body once again.

Time moved forward at a predictable pace, the earth twirling about to face the sun once again.

"Conrad?"

The brown haired half human looked at his little brother, giving him one of his rare true smiles.

"Yes, Wolfram?"

"Feel like a match?" he asked, and Conrad blinked. His little brother's carriage sagged.

"All right." Conrad was finished with his duties for the day… Together, they went to the practice courts, drawing their blades.

There was little noise as they went about unlimbering their weapons. They were always sporting, always contentious of their opponent. Fencing had become a ritual between them in the past years, one that Conrad had come to cherish. Baseball was something he shared with Yuuri, but he and his brother had the sword.

He was a shade off that day.

"Is something wrong?" Conrad asked, fending off another half hearted attack. Wolfram gave him a funny little smile.

"You spoke to Shinou when he possessed me… What did you think of him?"

Slash, parry.

"He said a lot of things. He was very sad… and a pompous bastard." It was probably the first time he had ever spoken ill of the Original King.

Attack, riposte.

Wolfram nodded, ducking. They were closer in skill now- Wolfram had come a long way from where he'd begun when Yuuri had arrived. However, he was not yet Conrad's equal.

"He tried to get me to… understand. I think he regretted a lot of things. He said he had taken Julia from me, and-"

Conrad stopped dead, staring at his little brother as something occurred to him.

"Wolfram, he told me that he would take you from me. Yet here you are."

His brother's eyes widened before he plastered Conrad's own smile on his face. "What are you-"

"Wolfram, I mean it," he said with quiet intent. "You aren't like this normally- you're distracted, and you're asking me strange questions… What's happening?"

Wolfram didn't answer, but sheathed his sword, grabbing Conrad around the waist, pulling him in for a hug. The soldier blinked, nonplussed, putting one of his callused hands on his little brother's head.

"Conrad… I love you. Remember that."

_It depends on the contract made._

Daikenja-sama's words echoed through Conrad's mind.

_Would you allow others to make the same sacrifice?_

"What did you promise the Original King?"

Wolfram didn't answer immediately.

"It was a fair trade, Conrad."

Breathing seemed to be a forgotten option for several moments.

"Wolfram…"

The blond shook his head. "Conrad, I did this willingly. Just please… understand. Please understand. I didn't do this to hurt anyone."

"Little brother, please, answer my question," Conrad pleaded, dropping his sword to grab Wolfram's shoulders.

"I can't tell you," Wolfram couldn't look at him. "But I'm happy that you're my brother. I'm happy I know you'll look after Yuuri and Lawrence and everyone else, because that's just who you are."

Conrad's jaw dropped in dawning horror, grabbing Wolfram around the shoulders and pulling him close.

Wolfram's smaller hands pushed him away.

"I understood and accepted this burden, Conrad," he murmured, looking down. His older brother's jaw snapped shut and tightened.

"We can lock you up and not let you go."

"It is the will of the Original King. Could you honestly refuse him?"

Despair crawled up Conrad's spine, making it hard for him to breathe. "How long?"

Wolfram hesitated. "From this moment, I have one week and six days." He reached up and touched Conrad's face, fingers lightly brushing over the planes and angles, like a blind man.

"We who are full blooded Mazoku never really think about how short life can be until something like this happens, but I've been so happy in these past few years. Conrad. Thank you for everything."

His lungs loosened, but it didn't help because his throat had closed up and he couldn't speak.

Wolfram smiled at him, even if it didn't reach his shadowed eyes.

"I love you, Wolfram." Somehow Conrad managed to drag words from his stiff lips. "I always will."

_What did that old bastard ask of you?_

Wolfram smiled. "I'll come back if I can. If you still want me."

"Always, Wolfram. Always."

Wolfram's fingers gently caressed the keys, playing for his three year old son, who was sitting on a blanket and absently chewing a hard cookie. His eyes were wide and enchanted by the music his Papa was making.

He remembered, clearly, pounding on the door to where Yuuri and the Keys were gathered.

Desperation had fueled him beyond sanity. The words left his lips before he could realize the implications-

And he heard the words of the Original King.

/_Anything? Would you give Yuuri up, after saving his life?_

_Would you give up the remaining of your own existence to live some time far away, never seeing the family you love?_

_Would you give up your grace, willingly becoming something unworthy of forgiveness//_

The thought had been appalling, but he had felt the urgency behind those words.

Could he do it? Would he? Could Wolfram willingly leave the one he loved beyond everything else?

The purely selfish part of him wanted to say no- if he couldn't have Yuuri, what was the point of saving him? Then he told the selfish part of him to go to hell, because it didn't matter. At least if he did this, he knew Yuuri would live and be happy. It didn't matter if he lived or died- but a king who could bring peace and make others thrive; that was worth more than he would ever be.

Yuuri's life was worth his soul.

/_Those are your terms, to save Yuuri? _/ he had asked the voice of the Original King.

He received wordless confirmation.

There was no going back now.

Aloud, he had spoken, but he really only remembered one part: I understand. I accept.

Celi-sama entered the room, silently picking up Lawrence to sit in her lap. Together, grandmother and grandson watched Wolfram's hands wind through the song.

The ex-Queen's eyes darted down to the baby- he was a full blooded Mazoku, and was still little more than an infant. His eyes had turned heavy, and he had been fighting sleep tooth and nail, even if he was losing.

By the time he had finished the entire song, Lawrence was fast asleep on his Grand-mama's lap.

"Such a sad song," she murmured, fingers stroking the baby's fine black hair. Wolfram turned around, smiling faintly.

"It suited the weather," he answered, tilting his head towards the window and the overcast sky beyond it.

Mother and son eyed each other for several moments.

There had always been a lot left unsaid between them.

Wolfram wished he had something to say. She was his _mother_, she had been the one to give birth to him, she had been responsible for his own son, and... She was a horrible mother.

He had hated her, he had adored her, and he now he had the chance to say those words to her.

They refused to come.

"Wolfram," she murmured, still stroking her grandson's hair.

Still, more silence.

"Mother," he replied.

They were too much alike, Wolfram and Cecile. They could sense that this was an important moment, where true words could finally be said…

"Dinner will be served soon. You should probably change."

Wolfram nodded. "I'll give Lawrence a bath."

The moment passed.

Murata sat, looking at the calendar he had carefully plotted out, sipping yet another glass of brandy.

"One week, two days."

To be continued.

A/N: I'll continue writing Home Work, and Sunshine, but I've hit a rather nasty patch of creativity block… If I didn't work on something that was bouncing in my skull, it would never have been written.


	2. Chapter 2

**Believe in Time II**

Disclaimer: Kyou Kara Maou does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction whatsoever.

Pairings: Wolfram and Yuuri, others mentioned

A/N: Well, here we go. We are approaching Wolfram's departure from life as "Wolfram" and on to becoming "Shinou". If I really knew more about what happened in that past, I'd actually consider writing the story of his life there, but I'm not that much of a glutton for punishment. Oh well. Angst ahead.

Murata checked the calendar in the light of a sputtering candle, and mused on how they were literally counting the hours now.

Well, he and Yozak were.

He honestly didn't know when-

_Knock, knock._

"Speak of the devil," he murmured, getting up from his small desk and walking to the door.

"Yozak," he greeted the tall red head, his usual jovial expression no where to be seen.

"Geika," Yozak replied, all seriousness. They stared at each other in silence for several moments.

"Forgive my rudeness- come in," Murata said, ushering him inside. Yozak followed sedately, shoulders bowed.

"Less than a day now."

"I know."

"I was there when he came in and tried to say goodbye to Von Voltaire-kyo. It was heartbreaking. Gwendal was busy and he kept brushing Wolfram off." His face was grim.

"Finally he just said good bye and left."

Murata leaned back, sighing. "It's not like he can tell them-"

_Knock, knock._

"Eh?"

_Knock, knock._

The two men looked at each other. Yozak shrugged and made a gesture to say "I don't know; it's your door."

Murata raised an eyebrow, before shrugging and getting to his feet to answer it. Both his eyebrows went to his hairline when he saw who darkened his stoop.

"Weller-kyo?"

Yozak stood up, wide eyed. "Captain?"

Conrad stood at the door, looking haunted and pale. "May I come in?"

* * *

Yuuri moaned weakly, coming hard as Wolfram continued to pound away inside him,

It was the last in a series of frequent (and sometimes inappropriate) ambushes by his husband; lately Wolfram had been insatiable.

The familiar movements became jerky, frantic, before Yuuri felt the familiar warmth of his husband's cum inside him.

"I love you, Yuuri," Wolfram whispered, yet again. It was a mantra he had heard several times in the past few days. The Maou would never get tired of hearing it, but he had to have heard those words more in the past week than he had during the duration of their relationship.

It was nice, but also somewhat suspect.

Too bad Yuuri could not, for the life of him, figure out what it was.

"I love you too," he answered, breathlessly. He absently brushed back Wolfram's tousled hair. "But- is something wrong? Something you're not telling me?"

It wasn't his birthday, it wasn't their anniversary, and there weren't any uprisings or political intrigues he knew about. (And he knew about most of them nowadays. A couple of Maou Bitchslaps of Justice worked wonders.)

Wolfram, as far as he knew, had not caused any major incidents…

Wolfram gave him a shaky smile, and kissed his forehead. "It's nothing for you to worry about."

Yuuri let his eyes drift shut, somewhat reassured. "I trust you, Wolfram." He yawned mightily. He smiled, as Wolfram spooned him, nuzzling his hair. He enjoyed having his husband be this affectionate, for whatever reason. "No matter what."

He heard a soft sigh and felt warm lips on his shoulder.

Closing his eyes, he started to doze off. "I just wish you'd tell me what was bothering you." Even marathon sex couldn't distract him- not when it had been this obvious.

Wolfram's voice was tight. "There's nothing to be done."

That bothered Yuuri- but the marathon sex had worn him out. A yawn split his head and he smacked his lips. "You can tell me in the morning, okay?"

Wolfram just laughed softly. "All right."

The bed was warm and comfortable, especially with Wolfram wrapped around him instead of kicking out his spleen.

In fact, if he hadn't been so comfortable, he wouldn't have noticed Wolfram trying to leave.

"Where you goin'?" Yuuri slurred. It was blasphemous for him to be leaving when Yuuri wanted his living bed warmer.

"I need to check on Lawrence," was the soft reply. Yuuri didn't bother to open his eyes or roll over, just grumbled.

"Well, hurry back, okay?"

If he had not been so comfortable, he would have noticed that it took Wolfram longer than normal to answer.

"I'll come back as soon as I can."

* * *

"He told me he had only a week and six days," Conrad began, looking at Daikenja and his old friend Yozak. "That was a week and six days ago. Daikenja-sama… do you know what the contract was? Is there any way to change the Original King's mind?"

Murata blinked slowly. Apparently he had completely misread Wolfram.

"What are you talking about?" he covered, smiling blankly. Conrad could apparently see through him.

"I mean the deal Wolfram made to save Yuuri. He didn't pay then, and he has to pay now." His nostrils flared as his eyes narrowed. "Shinou said he doubted I would ever forgive him- that he had taken away Julia and he would take away Wolfram. Why? Is he doing this because I wasn't able to follow his orders?"

The stricken tone spoke volumes, and Murata had to sigh. In typical Weller fashion, Conrad blamed himself for something beyond his control.

"Anything you may have done or not done will affect the outcome, Weller-kyo," Murata answered, absently rubbing his nose. "What Shinou did is necessary. What Wolfram is going to do… is also necessary."

"And- that means what? He's just going to, what?"

"Shinou asked for his life." Murata knew what Shinou would have had to have asked, even if he didn't have the exact phrase. "He didn't want Wolfram's death. That would have worked against him. He's going to send Wolfram to the place where he was always needed, and he will live out his life there until time comes full circle."

Conrad turned frantic. "You can't be serious- Yuuri- their son- there has to be a way to stop it, to change his mind! Daikenja!"

The appeal was lost to Murata. Conrad thought he was saving his younger brother, but if he did, the world, history itself, would be thrown into chaos. And more to the point, he was denying his brother something very important.

"Conrad, I know this may be difficult…" He took a deep breath, feeling Yozak's questioning eyes on him. "I realized something." A strange pained smile crossed his features.

Conrad looked ready to scream in impatience.

"Destiny cannot be changed, but more to the point, the reason it cannot be changed is because when we make a decision, we always have a reason for making it. You had a reason to appear to betray Shin Makoku. Wolfram had a reason for giving up his memories, then later agreeing to Shinou's price. I had a decision to make, and I knew that while it was destiny that I make it, I also made it of my own free will. That doesn't make much sense when I say it. Yet it was still the right decision to make."

He could sense the puzzlement from Yozak and Conrad's righteous impatience for him to get to the point.

"When I told Yuuri how to save Wolfram after the battle between Shinou and the Sovereign, I knew I had come to a crossroads. There was the option to let Wolfram die, and prevent him the pain that would surely come." Conrad breathed in sharply, and he could sense Yozak's intense interest. "His destiny has always been a cruel one, and I could have changed everything by letting him die. There was my choice and my crossroads. I looked that choice full in the face, and I chose to tell Yuuri how to save Wolfram anyways."

Conrad was baffled, as was Yozak, and Murata sighed.

"What I'm getting at is even if it was fate, it was still my decision. I wanted Wolfram to live for Yuuri, and for my own selfish reasons."

He was greeted again by two blank faces.

Murata twitched. "Just shut up and let Wolfram do it, okay? We're all in deep trouble if he doesn't."

The two soldiers nodded, slowly… and Murata twitched, again.

"He has to do this- and I can't tell you why yet, Conrad. All I can tell you is that Shinou would not have asked for _that_ price without a good reason."

Murata paused. "And Wolfram agreed to it."

"And what was that price?" Conrad asked, frustrated. "You use pretty words but you are just telling me that Shinou will destroy the two people I love most. You say he's giving up his life- but how? How can he give up his life and not die?"

"He will be sent away from us…"

/_And if I have anything to do with it, he will return./_ He aimed that thought at a particular stubborn blond.

/_I made my choice as well. Saving me from it would have been unfair./_

Murata grimaced.

"What can we do then?" Conrad was agonized.

/_There are always regrets when it's over./_

"We can pray, Weller-kyo."

Yozak rolled his eyes. "Yeah, to who?"

* * *

Wolfram's eyes were dry.

It surprised him that he was facing this moment without tears. He had somehow assumed he'd be bawling, pride aside.

He should have kicked, fought and screamed. After all, that was who he was, right? He had never accepted anything quietly in his life. Yet when it came down to it, he was stealing away in the dead of the night.

Wolfram stepped away from Yuuri's bed, dressing slowly in his human peasant clothing. He was leaving his peacock finery behind, like everything else.

Except the silly ring.

Looking down at his fingers, he smiled grimly. He would take that with him, at least. It was a precious reminder of why he was doing this.

Oh yes, he was a man in love; with his husband, with his child and his life, and here it was slipping through is fingers like so much sand. If he had tried to tighten his grip it would have slid away even faster.

So he had cradled it carefully and let it go.

"I'll be back," he said aloud, belting on his sword. Leaning down he gave Yuuri one last kiss. His husband stirred, muttering something about "homerun" before drifting back to sleep.

Walking to the small nursery, where their son was, he let his fingers drift through his shock of dark hair.

"Goodbye, my little son," he murmured. He couldn't stay any longer and if he said goodbye to Greta again he'd probably break.

Maybe he wasn't as composed as he'd like to think.

"I hope you grow up to be as kind as your papa and as beautiful as your grandmother. I know you'll be loved." He couldn't bring himself to kiss Lawrence goodbye.

If he did, he wouldn't be able to leave.

Swallowing dryly, he turned on his heel and marched (quietly) for to the door. Now all he had to do was get out.

Wolfram put on his boots, walking down the dimly lit halls without aid of a candle or lantern. The castle gates were beyond that door.

He refused to look back. Looking back would mean regrets, and he couldn't let himself have any until this- whatever it was- was over. He could only good forward.

He was glad as darkness swallowed him as he walked. It meant he could keep lying to himself about the tears.

* * *

Murata wonder what had actually possessed him to go watch.

Or what had gotten him to believe he could take two certain soldiers with him as they waited at the castle gates.

He had a good feeling that Conrad would try to wring some answers out of Wolfram- but Wolfram himself didn't know what awaited him. Yozak was there for moral support…

He was not looking forward to this final confrontation.

His ears caught the sound of boots padding down the halls of the castle- not hard soled, but soft, like what a peasant might wear.

The Great Sage found himself biting his lip as young Shinou stepped out of his memories into the real world.

After four thousand years, his memories of the young man had not dimmed. Wearing an odd green tunic, breeches, a plain sword, simple boots, he looked just as Murata remembered from that nightmarish eve when they met.

His best friend, his nemesis, the person to whom he had pledged his soul and more stood before him. He was not Shinou yet, but the moment was fast slipping up on them.

His little tirade about choices sprung to mind, as he saw Conrad approach Wolfram, taking his arm.

There was, he noted to himself, no way to really know what actions were destiny, happenstance, choice, or truly bad luck. He wondered if that was what it meant by the past being unchangeable…because one choice fed another, in an endless cycle.

Maybe he was just putting off the inevitable with a meaningless internal debate. There was no question that Wolfram would go take the path before him. He was too honorable and flawed to do otherwise.

He stepped back, not wanting to hear the words between the brothers. Light and shadow danced over their faces as expressions changed from desperation to anger on Conrad's face, and resignation and despair on Wolfram's.

Conrad lashed out- grabbing Wolfram's shoulders and shaking him like a disobedient little boy- and then the line was drawn. Wolfram's fist slammed into his older brother's jaw, sending him back.

"Never," Conrad's hissed words drifted to Murata on the wind. "I will never forgive him or you for what you are going to do to Yuuri!"

Wolfram's eyes were shaded by his hair, obscuring his expression. He turned his back to Conrad.

"I love you, even if you never forgive me. I was foolish and couldn't forgive your humanity all these years. Are you as stupid as I was to let something unchangeable come between us? We'll never see each other again in this lifetime."

Conrad's eyes were stricken, but no words came out.

"You have nothing more to say?" Wolfram's voice dropped. "I want to come back. One way or another, I want to come back…"

The torches illuminating the gate slowly guttered out, casting them all in shadow as Wolfram left, Murata on his heels. If Yozak and Conrad followed, he did not know.

* * *

There was total silence as they went into the courtyard in the Palace of the Original King.

It felt like a great bell had just fallen silent. He could feel it still in his bones even if the sound was gone, leaving you waiting for the next.

Murata stood behind Wolfram, looking into the deep dark pool in front of them.

"Is this what you wanted?"

"Yes."

Simple as that, his questions of Wolfram's, or Shinou's, motives were answered.

"I probably shouldn't have come after you like this," Murata muttered, and wrapped his arms around his best friend's shoulders. It didn't matter that they weren't best friends yet, or that they wouldn't be able to talk for a very, very long time.

"I should have kept silent, but… do you know what's going to happen?"

Wolfram shook his head, not looking at him.

"You will be going back in time. Do you know what awaits you?"

The blond man shook his head again.

"A pain beyond death itself; you will be separated from Yuuri, from your son, and from everything you have ever known. You will face trials that would defeat the strongest man. You will be forced to destroy someone you love."

He could feel that familiar sense of Wolfram's chest hitching; it didn't matter that he had never held Wolfram in this lifetime, or that he was taking advantage of a friendship that didn't exist yet.

"You will make choices both kind and cruel, and you will be only remembered for the cruel. You will lose yourself. Can you still do that?"

He could smell the tears on Wolfram.

"I'm sorry, my friend. I shouldn't have…"

Shouldn't have what? Told Yuuri how to save you? Come tonight? What else could he have done?

"No." Wolfram pulled free of his grip. "No, Murata. I always knew that I wasn't needed here. Since I met Yuuri, I knew that my life was going to be given, somehow, to him. This is the only way for things to have ended."

He had turned to Murata, and put his hands on the dark boy's shoulders, before kissing both his cheeks, quickly.

Murata realized that he had been in tears himself.

"I always knew my life was for something else. I guess that meant my life was meant to be in the past. Thank you for coming, Ken."

Murata nodded, then smiled. "I shouldn't be crying- after all, I get you for a lot longer than Yuuri did."

Wolfram chuckled. "I should go," he whispered, stepping up on the lip of the fountain.

Murata nodded again.

"Hey, Murata? Next time you see my brothers and Yuuri, tell them that I love them, okay?"

Murata grabbed his hands as Wolfram stepped into the water. It swirled around him, pulling him downwards, but Murata held on tightly. He could see the fear and resignation on his friend's face.

"Murata, tell Lawrence about me, please?"

Murata sobbed.

"And- and I want to believe this- that you can find your own life. Don't be the Great Sage forever. The future isn't decided yet!"

Murata choked back a laugh when the water closed over Wolfram's head.

"My old friend- it has. Oh it has."

* * *

Conrad had never imagined he would feel such rage towards his little brother. Rage that he would-

He would actually _go through _with it.

The soldier slammed his fists impotently into the paving stones where he knelt. His brother wasn't allowed to grow up and face hardship. He was supposed to be safe with Yuuri. Hadn't they been through enough?

He couldn't even look at Yozak, who had apparently known all of this when it happened. His best friend-

"Daikenja-sama," that traitor commented, cutting through Conrad's mental miasma.

Lifting his head to the youth in black, he stood, hands clenched.

"Can you tell me now? Can you tell me _now_ what happened? He's passed the threshold of coming back- so at least give me some closure!"

Murata paused, and looked over at Yozak, who shrugged and scratched his head.

"You're right. He's on the threshold of becoming the greatest hero and monster we have ever known."

Conrad grabbed him by the front of his black uniform. "Stop dancing around the subject! Did he hate me that much? Is Shinou punishing me for going back on my word? He's taken my brother!"

"Your brother has become the greatest man Shin Makoku has ever known, Weller-kyo," Murata said quietly, and Conrad was nearly distracted by the tears in his eyes. "He's the person you hate most."

"Why won't you bloody _tell me?_"

"He has, Captain. You just gotta think about it some," Yozak said, holding up his hands and talking in his "be nice to the emotionally fucked up man" voice. "And I don't think he can say much more. Cause… Well, Shinou'd be mad at us."

Then he scratched his head.

"What the fuck. Wolfram became Shinou."

Murata was promptly dropped on his ass.

"Yozak!"

"What's he going to do to me? Wolfram's already in the past, and its his shit to clean up now. I won't tell Yuuri, until his Royal God Complex decides to do something about it. I won't belittle what he's done but shit… "

Murata pushed his glasses up his nose. "I agree with you actually… But couldn't you have thought of a gentler way to tell Conrad?"

The half human had backed up, eyes wild, refusing to accept.

"You- he couldn't- he wouldn't-"

"Wolfram didn't know what he was going to be doing. He just agreed to give up his life," Murata said gently. "He went back, and when I met him, he was much like he was now. He just seemed very sad. He grew up, Weller-kyo. He became a man, a general…"

Conrad's mind flashed back to his long ago conversation with the ancient king, and clutched his arm.

"_I had many reasons when it came to your arm," he paused. "And one of the reasons was because I wanted to change the future. I had long come to the conclusion that it is an impossible task, no matter who you are; though I had to try. Yet losing you would have made Yuuri sad." Shinou sighed heavily, bowing under a horrible weight. "And that is something I do not think I could bare anymore."_

His eyes clouded with tears.

"So… he saved me when I lost my arm because…"

"I have no doubt he meant to use you somehow- but if he could find a way to save you, he would. You have always been his beloved older brother."

_"Though perhaps I wanted to give you back your arm, because you looked so wrong without one," Shinou went on, thoughtfully. "And because I could. If my own brother was hurt, I would save him, even if it was a foolish wish."_

Murata's shoulders sagged when he saw the fight go out of Conrad's frame.

"I believe," Murata licked his lips. "I believe that Wolfram will come back. We just need to give him time to believe it himself. Until then- don't tell Yuuri."

Conrad gave him a stiff nod, before turning and heading back into the castle, leaving Yozak and Murata behind.

Yet it was Shinou's words that rang in his ears.

_"It brings our greatest joys and sorrows, and no matter what I've tried, I cannot change its flow. Oh, moving back and forth through it is no problem… You may not believe this, Weller-kyo, but I have been many different things in my time. I have been a brat, a warrior, a homeless vagabond, a vassal to a great lord, a lover, a hero and a king. The roles I have cherished the most were husband and father. Time has taken all of these from me, Weller-kyo. Yet I would not change what happened."_

To be continued.

A/N: I have been sick, and distracted, and sick again. And FMA is an evil distraction. I hope you all enjoy. Please feed the author cause she's sad like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Believe in Time III**

Disclaimer: Kyou Kara Maou does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

Pairings: Wolfram and Yuuri, others mentioned

A/N: Yay for angst.

_Little Julia sat back on her heels, thoroughly satisfied with the mud pies she had made for Ulrike-sama while her father was there for a meeting._

_She had no idea what they were talking about, but it was right and proper for a guest to give presents to their host, or so her papa had said. Hence, she was busily making the pies._

_Then it occurred to her she had no idea where they were._

_The patch of mud she had found was someplace outside… It was always a problem, when her papa took her someplace new that she didn't know yet. Getting lost could be frightening._

_But she still needed to deliver these mud pies._

_So, Julia got to her feet, and retraced her steps. At least, she tried to trace her steps._

"_Hello?" she called when she realized she hadn't been able to hear the priestesses for some time. "Is there anyone here?"_

_Silence was her answer, but there was the curious sensation of being watched. Slowly she turned around, listening for footfalls or breathing, but there was none._

_The eyes on her were gently amused, not angry or scary._

"_I know you're there," she said after several minutes. "Could you tell me how to find Ulrike-sama?"_

_The eyes watching her blinked._

"_Please?"_

_There was a heavy ripple in the air, and the eyes of her watcher came closer- and collected next to her._

"_You can tell I'm here?" a voice said. It was a once musical voice, but very rough from shouting. _

_Julia nodded in a "yes of course" manner, her expression saying "What- others can't?"_

"_How?"_

"_I could feel you looking at me," she said, then frowned. "But I couldn't hear you breathing."_

"_I don't breathe."_

"_Oh." Julia considered this thoughtfully. "Are you a ghost?"_

"_Well, not quite. I've only stopped living. To become a ghost you have to die. I haven't done that yet."_

"_Oh." Here Julia considered more. Then she remembered something. _

"_My papa said I shouldn't talk to strangers."_

"_Your papa is very wise."_

"_Are you a stranger, mister?"_

_The man chuckled. "I'm not as strange as some people I know." Julia wondered who he was talking about. "But I'm not. I'm a very old friend of your family."_

"_Papa hasn't mentioned you."_

"_Well, we won't be strangers to each other if we introduce ourselves, will we?"_

_Julia paused to consider a bit more, nodding when she could find no fault in his logic._

"_I'm Susanna Julia von Wincott." She put her pies down carefully and curtsied in the direction of the voice. "It's nice to meet you."_

"_I'm…" The voice paused. "You can call me Wolf-chan."_

_Julia pouted. "That's not your name. I'm not a stupid little kid!"_

"_Well, my real name is silly and I like Wolf-chan better."_

"_How can your real name be sillier than that?"_

_Wolf-chan laughed, delighted- and a few more voices could be heard._

"_I think your papa has arrived, Julia," he said, and Julia nodded, finding her mud pies again. _

"_It was nice meeting you, Wolf-chan," she replied, when her worried papa scooped her up in his arms, making her drop the pies. _

_That was vexing, but he was so worried she had to forgive him._

"_Where have you been all this time, all alone?" he whispered, holding her tightly._

"_I was trying to find you so I could give Ulrike-sama the pies I made," she answered, clearly unworried. Really, adults were just silly._

"_Besides, I wasn't alone. Wolf-chan was here with me."_

"_Wolf-chan?"_

_Julia gave a very put upon sigh. "He wouldn't tell me his _real _name. He did say he was an old friend of the family and that he had stopped living a long time ago."_

_There was silence for several moments, as several other people gathered. Julia could tell from the sound of breathing and soft, hushed whispers. _

"_Your daughter is a very special person," a child-like voice answered, and Julia could only guess it was Ulrike-sama because all the twittering stopped. "I don't see why we should be surprised. Shinou-heika has always favored children, and he enjoys having them visit his house."_

_The child-voice came closer. _

"_Julia-chan, has Wolf-chan spoken to you before?"_

_Julia shook her head. "No, I just met him. He was nice, if sort of strange."_

_The voices of the many gathered twittered again._

"_Please come and visit again, Von Wincott-kyo," Ulrike-sama stated, her tone somewhat awed. "Perhaps… Wolf-chan will speak to her again."_

_Her strong, warm Papa was trembling, and Julia had no idea what to say._

_

* * *

_

Yuuri frowned when he woke up. He was freezing cold.

This was nothing unusual- even after all these years of sharing a bed with Wolfram, the man still stole the blankets, even if the kicking had subsided.

"Wolf- gimme."

Not that he expected his husband to give him the blankets. He never did- but Yuuri felt he had to say _something_ before he unraveled Wolfram's cocoon.

His eyes felt gummy as he cracked them, pushing himself up to find his blond bed warmer.

The lack of snoring should have tipped him off immediately, but he wasn't worried when he saw Wolfram was gone. He'd probably gone to the bathroom, gone to check on Lawrence… Gone to morning practice…

Rubbing his head he sat up, he looked around.

Well, after the pounding his ass got last night, he didn't think morning practice was an option. He'd have to talk to Wolfram about that. Really. He'd not gotten to top in… uh…

A blush crept up his neck. Had he ever topped?

Telling himself that he was _not _embarrassed, he shuffled out of bed and gathered his bathing things and fresh clothes. Breakfast would be soon, and he could properly yell at him then.

Lawrence was still asleep, on his back and making a soft whistling snore that had to have come from Wolfram. Yuuri never snored.

Well, Yuuri would wake him and feed him later.

His bath was calling.

* * *

The hot water in the Maou's private bath was calming, and his eyes shut as he drifted back and forth, thinking about the last night and his really odd dream.

It wasn't often that Julia's personality intruded on his dreams. He never had any memories of her, though he knew Conrad would often look at Yuuri like he was someone else.

But that one… It seemed very odd. Like the part of him that was Julia (and damn that wigged him out) was trying to tell him something.

Yuuri groaned. He was _awful_ at putting things together. (His dream of being a detective had died a painful, lingering death.)

With a sigh he finally got out of the water, and dried himself off. Where was Wolfram when he needed to talk? He should have been back from training by now…

Grunting in annoyance, he dressed and headed to the dining room where his extended family should have gathered.

It was a beautiful day; hopefully the paperwork would be light enough that he could steal away with Wolfram for a walk or a picnic…

Then he slumped.

"I'm twenty and I'm totally henpecked."

So where _was _Wolfram? It just didn't make sense for him not to be there, nagging about something.

Opening the door to the dining room, he prepared to gripe. "Hey, morning! Anyone seen-"

He stopped dead, and blinked. Standing next to the table was the last person he'd expected.

Ulrike.

The priestess had not left the Palace of the Original King since the incident with the Sovereign over four years ago. No amount of pleading or bargaining would persuade her to leave Shinou's Palace.

"Someone must comfort his grieving soul," she had told him. Any meaning to this, of course, went right over Yuuri's head.

"Ulrike!" he called, walking out to her, arms out to take her hands. "What brings you-"

She raised one delicate hand, her long hair acting as a shield. Stopping, Yuuri gaped at her.

"Ulrike?"

"Please, don't greet me like this," she said softly. "I have no right. I am not here on a happy errand, Maou-heika." She bowed her head, hiding behind her hair completely.

It took him a moment to realize that all of his in-laws, Yozak, Murata and Gunter were there, sitting quietly. There was an air of heaviness in the room that made Yuuri feel ill.

He pulled back a step, looking at her in confusion.

"There was a bargain between Shinou-heika and Wolfram, to save you," Ulrike said softly, almost inaudible.

Yuuri nodded. "He gave up his memories-"

"That was the first. When you became the Sovereign, there was another."

Yuuri knew he would not like where this was going. "Wolfram said I didn't have to worry about it." His tongue was stuck in his throat.

"There was no point in worrying then. Shinou-heika has now taken his payment in full."

Ulrike clenched her tiny fists before letting them go limp at her side. "Their bargain has been completed. To save you- in the past and in the future, your life and soul… Wolfram gave up his life."

Static crackled in his ears; Yuuri couldn't be sure if Ulrike said anything else because he couldn't really see her face anymore. Everything grayed out- then snapped back into focus.

"Not dead? You didn't say dead… please, not dead…"

Celi-sama was speaking now, and Yuuri wanted to kiss her then hit her for saying those words.

"No. He has gone to live out his life somewhere else."

Yuuri's heart stopped. Dead, or not dead- what was the difference if he wasn't there with Yuuri? What was Wolfram without Yuuri- and Yuuri without Wolfram? How could they be separate? How could he have ever _wanted_ that, back when Yuuri was younger and much more stupid?

"How? _Why?_"

"Shinou-heika's price was his life, not his death." Ulrike choked softly. "Yet he is no longer Wolfram- not as you knew him. He is lost to you in every way but death."

Murata was frowning hard at Ulrike's words.

"Shinou-heika is being stubborn," he murmured- though Yuuri couldn't hear him, or didn't care.

"He's- he's my husband. My- my love. I _love_ him, Ulrike. I _need_ him. Can't I give him something in return?"

"Your majesty… when a price is paid, it cannot be truly returned," Ulrike answered, putting her hand out to find his. Yuuri would have none of it, batting her hand and stumbling away.

"I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it!"

"Shibuya."

Yuuri turned to Murata, eyes dull. "It's not true, is it? Is it? He can't be _gone-_ not to save me! I wanted to save _him! _What's the point if I can't save him one time?"

"Yuuri," the Great Sage stated, getting to his feet and putting his hands on Yuuri's shoulders. "Wolfram- the Wolfram you knew is lost to us. He will never be the same person again. But he _is not dead._"

Dead; not dead…

"I WOULD RATHER HE WAS!" The words poured out without thought. "_That way I could join him!"_

His palms stung- he realized he had slammed them hard against the table. His chest ached and his heart hammered, and the world was still fuzzy around the edges of his vision.

"Your majesty, Yuuri!" there was a surge as many people came to their feet to try to calm the Maou, who was starting to glow. "He wouldn't want you to harm yourself- not when Lawrence needs you!"

Warm arms encircled him, and Yuuri turned to see the stricken Conrad.

He didn't want _Conrad._ He wanted Wolfram to hold him and tell him it was all right and that it was okay to cry-

He was crying because he wasn't sad, no, no, he wasn't sad. Sad would be for later. Now he just had to stop dying.

He shoved the soldier away.

"Daikenja- why? Why after all this time?" Yuuri didn't notice that his hair had grown, or that his voice had deepened- or that he had never addressed his friend in such a manner. "Was this how it always was? Has been? Why must he sacrifice for me?"

There were no speeches, no cries for justice from the Maou. This was not the King. What stood before them was a broken hearted memory.

"Is- I don't understand, but- but I _know_ it was always him!" the Maou said, crossing to Murata. "I looked for him all this time and he's not changed. Why… Why hasn't he changed? I have, you have- we all have even though we always find each other!"

Murata's eyes were wide, then gentled. "Shhh… Maou-heika, you remember some of it, don't you? I'd wondered… and this "you" is figuring it out perhaps, hmm?"

The Maou's eyes narrowed, because what Daikenja said made perfect sense except it didn't make sense to Yuuri. That made perfect sense too.

"Why don't you go back to sleep now? Yuuri needs some time," the Sage told him, and the Maou and Yuuri struggled, trying to come to an understanding. The memories of the time of the Sovereign that had played before Yuuri during that nightmarish time seemed to come to the forefront… and Yuuri didn't want to look.

It didn't matter. Wolfram was gone and he wasn't coming back and…

The world finally shifted to total gray, as Yuuri's knees buckled.

* * *

_Julia could feel the light of the moon on her face, as she savored the lingering peace of the night._

_It would be gone soon enough._

"_I can feel your eyes on me, Wolf-chan."_

_Her answer was a soft chuckle, and she wondered if she could feel a warm breeze in imitation of a caress. _

_There had been many long years since Julia had met the mysterious Wolf-chan, and their relationship often confused her. _

_There was a sense of absolute comfort and familiarity there, and at the same time, she was utterly confused. They had never touched, had only spoken, but they were as close as two people could be. _

_That longing for his touch left her frustrated and despairing. Frustrated because it was something she could never have, and despairing because there were two good men she cared for deeply that she could never love despite herself._

"_I know you can, and I'm sorry for that."_

"_Why?" It was odd- he rarely spoke to her away from his Palace._

"_If I'd never spoken to you, you would never have known I was there," he said, wistfully. _

"_I felt your eyes on me ever since I could remember. That was just the first time I realized it." Julia was amused at times. "I just have trouble understanding why the Original King would take such an interest in a blind child."_

_There was silence, and Julia wondered if she had stepped too far. She had never called him for what he was, not truly. It was something that had often been eluded to, but never stated outright. _

"_The Original King is a portrait on a wall," Wolf-chan answered, snorting. _

_Julia laughed._

"_There is war coming," she said after a moment, regaining her composure. _

"_The Maou has done her best." His tone was colored with his own frustration._

"_With all your power…"_

"_If it were merely that, I would leave Dai Shimaron as a smoking hole." She fancied she could hear him grinding his teeth. "No… It was cruel of me to choose Cecilia to be the Maou, but what I needed, was for her to gather certain people together. If she had not been the Maou it would not have happened."_

_Julia listened, tilting her head to the side._

"_Life would have been so much easier if I truly was the omnipotent creature that people thought me to be," Wolf-chan whispered. "What I do have is an eagle's view. Its not what others have, but it is also not perfect."_

"_And necessity is never an excuse," Julia murmured. _

_Wolf barked in laughter._

"_You are right, you are always right… but I have willingly damned myself for necessity's sake. Julia… I have to ask something of you. It is grossly unfair, but it is better than the alternative."_

_Julia felt the night's warmth bleed off. "And what is the alternative?"_

_Wolf seemed to cringe. "You would ask that question first." He paused to collect himself. "There are certain things in the future that are set. The war with Dai Shimaron will end. Afterwards, the Four Taboo Boxes will assemble. That is unchangeable." There was a heavy pause._

"_If you chose to do otherwise, they will release the Sovereign, and the boy who could stop them will be too young to act. He would be forced to battle, but not understand how to use his powers against an opponent who is strong and sure. He will not love the person he is fighting and that…that would destroy us all."_

_Her mouth went dry._

"_Why would I chose this alternative? What are you asking of me?""_

_Wolf-chan sighed painfully. "I am asking you to die, White Julia."_

_

* * *

_

Yuuri awoke, in his bed and alone.

Well, not completely alone. Someone had put Lawrence in the bed with him, and the little boy was looking at him with soulful green eyes. Of course, he promptly pulled the baby to him.

Lawrence was crawling quite well, but he had yet to achieve the growth of a one year old human… yet he would stubbornly try and pull himself up with any kind of surface. He was truly his father's…

"Wolfram…"

"Shibuya."

Yuuri looked up to see Murata sitting beside him, with Conrad and Yozak standing beside the door.

"He's really gone?"

Murata's smile was pained. "Yes."

Conrad refused to look at anyone, and Yozak watched Murata and Yuuri intently.

"What was it all for then?"

Murata cleared his throat. "Don't… don't give up hope yet. There is… a chance…"

Yuuri leaned forward, desperately grabbing at hope.

"But he will never be the same."

"Why did he take him away?" Yuuri asked, his voice small. Murata winced.

"Shinou can tell you, in time."

"Shinou?" Yuuri felt rage building inside him. If only that bastard had not… Had not…

"We'll talk more when you're thinking clearly," Murata said, backing away.

Yuuri didn't care. Standing up, walked over to Conrad and deposited his son into the soldier's arms, and walked out the door.

Yuuri didn't know when he'd started running, but he clearly had. He had a clear goal, and someone he needed to yell at.

* * *

How dare he? How dare that son of a bitch take Wolfram away? Bad enough that he'd taken away Wolfram's memories, used him as a tool to rescue Yuuri- how could pull him away from his life like this?

Yuuri wanted to break things. Big things. Like the Palace of the Original King.

He could feel his power surge through him, sparking blue. He wasn't thinking, not really- he just needed to vent on the one true object of his rage.

He was so intent on his path that he didn't notice the rock in the middle of the road. Though he did notice when it sent him sprawling.

It was too much. Just too much.

"How am I supposed to do this?" he asked, dully. "Wolfram and I have been through so much together. I didn't want him at first but… but I did later. How can he really be gone?"

"Gone is not quite the right term."

Yuuri blinked, noticing for the first time that he wasn't quite as alone as he'd thought. Levering himself up, he grunted in annoyance to find he had an audience- one that was crass enough not to offer to help him up.

The taller man didn't quite block all the light, almost as if he was translucent (something that Yuuri's mind rejected out of hand.) He was taller than Yuuri but not quite as tall as Conrad, with a few streaks of blond left on his silver head. His smile was startlingly young despite the lines beginning around his eyes and mouth, and the scar across his cheek added a new set of creases.

"What's wrong?" the man asked, sitting back on his heels. Yuuri wanted to scream at the man- this stranger- for getting him off track but dammit he couldn't just bitch slap someone who was there and…

"I need to go." Go do what? Cause random destruction and mayhem? Wasn't he a little too old for that? Yuuri frowned, but in his grief he couldn't quite think at all.

"Go ahead and cry," the stranger said, his eyes oddly sympathetic. "Holding back will make it worse."

Sitting on his butt in the dust of the road, Yuuri shuddered. "I don't want to cry anymore. I want _him_ back."

The stranger sighed softly. "I'm sure he'd want to come back to you."

There was something Yuuri was missing again. Yet he was so caught up in his own grief that he found himself spilling out the entire story. Everything from coming to New Makoku to realizing he was in love with Wolfram, to getting pregnant and the birth of his son. He mentioned his husband's strange behavior this past month…

"… and why am I telling you this?"

The older man scratched his cheek absently. "You are in pain and you want to be rid of it. I'm not someone you know, and therefore I can be… somewhat objective. Come walk with me for a bit?"

Yuuri frowned, but got to his feet- again, wondering at how rude this person was not to offer a hand up. Then he dismissed it- he had other things on his mind.

The stranger led him off the path to the Palace of the Original King, around the perimeter of the castle.

"Your Wolfram sounded like he wanted very much to come back to you," the man said slowly, and Yuuri tilted his head to listen.

"Regardless of it being the right or the wrong action, do you understand why your Wolfram did not tell you of the price he had to pay?"

Yuuri frowned, swallowing. This wasn't a path he wanted to go down- it could easily lead to rage, but…

"He didn't want me to worry about the time we had left."

"Maybe he was wrong to not tell you- but I think, at the time, you had been through a horrible experience and didn't want you to fear the future. What would you have done, if he had?"

Yuuri didn't answer. He didn't like loosing the wind from his sails so quickly.

"The Original King paid a heavy price as well, in the saving of you."

Yuuri made a small noise in the back of his throat. He was reminded of what he had read from Daikenja-sama's journal.

"It wasn't just going into the seal; he's known your soul, and he's loved you in every life you've had. Yet to keep your soul free of the influence of the Sovereign, he has had to some cruel things."

"That's no excuse!" Yuuri protested, fists clenching at his side.

"No, it's not." The man was troubled, and Yuuri wondered why it bothered him- but his next words made him flinch.

"Your Wolfram will never come back to you," the stranger murmured, looking up at the Palace. "It's impossible. He's changed to the point of being unrecognizable to you."

Yuuri choked back a sob. "But I-"

"The Seal that Shinou resides in has faded, almost completely. What would you do if Shinou was to come back into the world as a living person, mortal as you are?"

This stopped Yuuri cold and he stared at the man beside him. "Seriously? He would return?"

"Seriously," the stranger said, nodding.

Yuuri's rage rose up inside him again. "I'd tell him to go to hell. He has no right to waltz into our lives like that, after completely disrupting it! He's taken my son's other father away, he's broken Celi-sama's heart, and his brothers…"

"And yours," the stranger said softly.

Yuuri wasn't listening to him.

"He truly is a despicable being, the Original King. Selfish and cruel… Leaving the Seal after all this time… he doesn't deserve it."

Yuuri blinked and rubbed his head, a few of the words finally being heard.

"I don't care what happens to the Original King," Yuuri said, after a few moments more of the stranger's ramblings. "He… I don't care."

The stranger's eyes met his, and Yuuri swallowed. They were so green.

"I have given away my grace, and there is no forgiveness for me," the stranger said quietly. "I am sorry for all I have done to you, Yuuri. I hope that someday you can find happiness again."

Yuuri blinked, mouth gaping open as the stranger faded away, the wind blowing through the trees at his departure.

"Shinou..?"

To be continued.


	4. Chapter 4

**Believe in Time IV**

Disclaimer: Kyou Kara Maou does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

_The halls of the empty castle echoed dully as Wolfram walked down into the newly created catacombs, towards the cold room that would become his tomb._

_Wolfram… now, that was a name he had not let himself use for quite a long time. Three hundred years had passed since he had let the name fall from his very own lips. There had been a time when Wolfram had said his name, over and over again, just so he could recall how it sounded. When he was alone, before bed, in the rare times he had gotten a chance to bathe. _

_Then the times he had been alone became less and less. Bathing was a chore, done hurriedly with his friends; time alone was an illusion, just like sleep. He had slowed down, saying the name once a day, once a week, once a year… until he no longer even thought of it anymore. _

_Wolfram belonged to a young man with a husband and son to look after. The King, Shinou Heika, was who he was now. He had made decisions that would affect the course of the country. And it was _his _country. Not just Yuuri's, not his mother's… His. He had done all of this for Yuuri, and in the course of events, fallen in love with his own people. _

_The doors were open before him, glowing faintly. He had built his Castle above the original seal that was to hold him- this room was an extension. The altar therein would be his resting place, forever._

_His power was fading. His steps began to falter, growing more halted. The long sleep that he had put off was finally catching up to him. _

_For years he had used his power to stay awake, to keep moving when there were battles to fight, wars to win and policy to be made. When he had finally realized what was happening- that he had become the Original King, and that it had been himself he had seen in the painting- he knew what he had to do. He knew he would have time to catch up on his rest. Here he would wait, eternally, in the sleep of death. _

_Dead, but not dead, and his spirit would be free to watch over the kingdom he had come to love with all his heart. _

_When he had he finally begun to understand Yuuri so much? He had met his people, and had fallen in love with them. Once, he would have done it only to make Yuuri happy. But to feel it for himself… _

_He sighed, and he was content. _

_The long sleep pulled at him, as he barely managed to collapse on the altar before all the strength bled out. The faint light in the room became dimmer and dimmer to his eyes, breaths became slower._

_One more moment awake as he lost all vision. The sounds became more and more distant and all he knew was his own breathing. _

_In… out… in…_

_Nothing._

* * *

Yuuri looked up at the blond man, trying to find the strength to lift his hand to touch His face.

The face was so beautiful and familiar, and it was covered in ashes and tears.

"_I didn't want it to come to this! I never wanted it to come to-"_

Yuuri smiled. His body was heavy and numb- but he managed to awkwardly bump his fingers to his face.

"_It's funny."_

Yuuri heard himself rasp- far deeper, though familiar. The Maou's voice, perhaps? It couldn't be heard far above the rattle in his chest.

"_For a while- I hated you."_

No he didn't… did he? He'd never hated Wolfram

"_But I'm glad it was you."_

You what?

"_I tried- I tried to save you- I never wanted to kill you- but-"_

"_I was foolish. I should have…"_ He heard himself cough up blood. "_I should have listened."_

"_We'll find a doctor! It doesn't have to end like this!"_

Yuuri felt the coldness seep up from his toes to his neck. The world was drifting away from him.

"_I've never hated anyone like I hated you…"_

He woke with a start, hand reaching out to find Wolfram's side of the bed.

"But I've never loved anyone else."

* * *

Murata frowned as he walked through the Palace of the Original King. Shinou had been oddly silent for the past few weeks.

Weeks filled with Yuuri's pain, and his family's sorrow. They mourned Wolfram as if he was dead, and it seemed that Shinou was content to leave it that way.

He could not leave this as it was. Conrad was confused, and Yozak was pissed. It was wrong for Wolfram to stay in the Seal, if it was already fading away.

//_Why won't you speak to me?//_

The old bastard seemed perfectly content to leave things as they were. For the life of him, Murata could not understand.

"Hey- you going to visit- you know, _him?_" someone asked, and Murata looked up to see his friend standing there. Murata smiled faintly. It was good to have someone there…

"Ah, I am. He… he's been too quiet lately. If there was anything Shinou and Wolfram had in common, it was his inability to shut up," Murata explained, fidgeting. His eyebrows knit in thought. "I don't like this at all…"

"Yeah. You'd think he'd be gung ho about coming home to his sweetie after, what, four thousand years of chastity? God knows if I was him, Yuuri wouldn't be sitting for months."

Murata covered a smile with his hand. It did make him wonder… especially since Yuuri had come home after disappearing. He was exhausted, emotionally speaking, and unable to talk about whatever had happened. He had gone from denial to pure mourning, and the entire Castle had mourned with him.

"I don't know what's going on his head. He's always… been confusing. Part of it may have been his view of events. He's been working things from a different point of view of than I did- and it always seemed to work."

Murata waved his arms to eloquently shrug. "I just don't get it myself. I thought he wanted to come back."

"The only thing that would convince him otherwise would be Yuuri saying he didn't want him back," Yozak stated, shrugging as well as they began their descent through the bowels of the Palace.

"He'd always want Wolfram back," Murata muttered, looking towards the door of the altar room.

The light from the altar was nearly gone… and Yozak frowned. "Is that a good thing?" he asked, nodding towards the altar. Murata lifted his eyebrow, and picked up his pace. There was something wrong here…

Shinou's body seemed older than it had before. Older… and…

Murata put his palm on Shinou's face. There was barely any warmth left, and his lips were starting to turn blue. Murata pulled his hand back like it had been burned.

"Yozak! We have to find Ulrike! Now!"

The redhead blinked, taking a good look at Murata's suddenly pale face and taking a moment to feel the extremely cold room. It smelled like death.

Without a word the two men took off running.

* * *

It was another day without Wolfram. It was another day feeling like he had died himself, and the world was just pulling his strings like a puppet.

Too bad he couldn't die. Yuuri knew he had too much to live for and too many people who needed him. Logically, he would have given himself that argument over and over again.

It was so damn hard to keep on living. The worst parts were when he would turn around, expecting to find Wolfram there. It happened at the worst possible times. He would have thought it was his bed that was the worst reminder- but no. It was other things.

He would walk by the music room and be unnerved by the silence. When he walked by the window, and expect to here Wolfram drilling his troops. Walking by Lawrence's nursery, there was no lullaby or conversation.

Yuuri could walk by himself. Yet those familiar places, the clues that his husband had been there were gone.

Then why could he feel eyes on him? It was like if he turned around fast enough, he might find Wolfram there. Someone once told him that time healed all wounds. That person had never been to Shin Makoku.

He slowly wrote out his signature again, not reading the form above it. It didn't matter anyways. Just some stupid decree.

"I am sure that Anissina will be thrilled that you have decreed men have lost their voting rights." Gwendal stood over him, seemingly unchanged. Yuuri looked up. If he had been himself he would have noted the hollowness to the older man's cheeks, and his uniform was less than immaculate as it hung off his frame.

"Oh." Glancing down, Yuuri just marked through his name. "That wouldn't be a good idea."

"No, it wouldn't be… Yuuri," Gwendal began, before stopping himself. He seemed hesitant. "I know this may be too soon, but there are a few things you should…" The tall man stopped, and looked away. "Never mind. It is too soon."

Yuuri wasn't really listening, but looked up at him anyways. He had so rarely been locked in his own pain like this. He could remember… always, always… being able to look beyond his own pain. Not this time.

Silence descended, and Gwendal looked away.

"Did you need something?"

Gwendal cleared his throat.

"Shibuya!"

"Maou-heika!"

Yuuri barely lifted his head as three bodies tried to force their way into his office at the same time. He didn't see the long train of people behind them.

"Ulrike?" He hadn't quite forgiven the small priestess. Irrational, surely, but he had no reason to be rational right now. "What are you doing here?"

The diminutive woman was out of breath, and Murata was standing right behind her. "It's Shinou-heika," she started to babble. He had never seen her so wide-eyed before. He noted absently that she seemed on the verge of complete panic. "You have to help him! Please!"

Yuuri tilted his head to the side. "What are you talking about?" he asked, voice distant.

"Shibuya! Tell me what happened when you went to the Palace of the Original King!" Murata yelled, all but ordered, face pale but his eyes sparking with anger. "What did you say to him?"

Yuuri closed his eyes as he laid his pen down on his desk. "He told me that my Wolfram would never come back. Then he asked me what I would do if Shinou awakened from his seal." Yuuri opened his eyes to meet Murata's. "I told him that if he did, I'd tell him to go to hell."

Yuuri counted his heartbeats in the following silence before everyone exploded.

"You- Shibuya, how could you do that?"

"No!" Ulrike was nearly in tears. "Heika, how could you do that?"

"How?" Bitterness welled up in his voice, and Yuuri made no move to hide it. "What did I do, hurt his feelings? That bastard has ruined so many lives…"

"Including his own," Murata spat back. "Dammit, Shibuya, if he doesn't let himself awaken from the seal, he'll _die._ Doesn't that matter to you? He's _dying_. As we speak, more energy drains out of him. If we don't do something he'll be gone forever."

"We don't need him anymore." His own callousness surprised him, but Yuuri was beyond caring right then. "His time has passed with the boxes and the Sovereign. He's made his last deal. The priestesses can go home and find a life for themselves. We can finally get things done without having to worry about what the Great One wants," Yuuri spat. "His time has passed."

"Dammit, Shibuya, _no!_ _You don't know what you're saying! He's done all of this for you!""_

"Don't know? Don't _know?_ I know all I need to! He's done all this for a man who died four thousand years ago!"

"He did all of this for Shibuya Yuuri, damn you, all of it. He did all of this because he wanted _you _to rule this kingdom, he did this because he believed _in you._ How can you let this go? See beyond your own pain! _Wolfram is _still _fucking alive and all you can do is wallow!"_

"He said that my Wolfram will never be coming back," Yuuri answered slowly. "Never. How can I forgive that?"

"Because if you don't act now Wolfram really _will_ be dead," Murata hissed. "He will let himself die because he doesn't believe he deserves to exist any more. How can you do that to him after all he's done for you?"

"What are you talking about?" Gwendal interrupted, obviously confused. "I thought we were talking about Shinou-heika."

Murata looked at him, and shook his head, before starting to laugh. It bubbled up, making him sound like he was taking a perverse pleasure in this moment. Yuuri narrowed his eyes.

"Daikenja," Yozak muttered, shaking his shoulder. "Pull yourself together. Its pretty obvious what happened, ain't it?"

Murata was too busy frothing to be coherent. "You can't- he will- dammit, Shibuya, you can't just let him-"

The others at the door started to crowd inside the door.

"Perhaps Yuuri is right," another voice called, and in filed Cecile, Gunter and Conrad. "His decrees have caused pain to many." The woman's eyes were cold. It had been at Shinou's decree, after all, that she had three times been wed.

"Mother, he did it so that we might all exist," Conrad protested. Her eyes widened at his words. "I- I don't think he did it to be cruel…"

"Do I have to be the one to tell everyone?" Yozak muttered, running his fingers through his hair as he forced his way into the room. "Fuck… there is a reason that Shinou said Wolfram wasn't coming back. He _can't- _Wolfram can't because he's not Wolfram anymore."

"That's because he _is_ Shinou-heika."

If that sentence had been spoken by Murata, Yuuri might have suspected subterfuge. If it had been Yozak, he would have still disbelieved it. If anyone had said it but Conrad, he might have laughed in his or her face.

Conrad's voice softened, after having interrupted. "I didn't find out until it was too late to do anything, Yuuri. But it is the truth. The deal that Wolfram made to save your soul from the Sovereign, was that he give up his life. It was his life, not his death, that Shinou-heika wanted. It was Wolfram's destiny to go to the past. It was his destiny to found our country and to fight the first war. His life was asked for, and he gave it. Shinou-heika is who he _is_ now, and… he can't be Wolfram again."

All sound died again in the room, and Cecile looked faint and Gwendal's eyes nearly bulged in their sockets, and Yuuri… Yuuri… was just numb as the words sank in.

Images, perhaps memories, flickered behind his eyes as he tried to take it in. The bastard who had done all of this was Wolfram. Wolfram had gone back to the past, had lived out his life there, as another person. He could remember Wolf-chan asking him to die. He remembered being turned down by a man with blond hair and blue eyes, saying that he was married and would never break those vows. He remembered… other things… too fast for his conscious mind to process but always knowing that Wolf-chan had been there, and had given up as much as he had ever asked of him.

"I told him to go to hell," Yuuri repeated, voice breaking. "I told him that I…"

"And because of that he gave up the will to live," Murata snapped. "Let's get this straight. He told you, basically, that he can not and will never be Wolfram again. He was over four hundred years old when he entered the seal, Shibuya. Well preserved, certainly, but no where near young anymore. He's physically older than everyone here. His mind has been free while his body stayed in suspension. And I'm going to ask you this once, Yuuri- can you welcome him back as he is?"

Yuuri's hands clenched the desk, before he jumped towards the door. He took off running, fists clenched and arms pumping, not even bothering to call for a horse as he ran through the streets of the city.

Too much was going on, almost too much to take in. He had thought Wolfram lost, and this was nearly as bad. So close, yet so far. Wolfram had lived his entire life in the past. He had lived it without Yuuri there. Did he find someone else while in the past?

Immediately Yuuri dismissed that- from his own disjointed impressions, Wolfram most certainly had not. Wolfram had done all of this…

…forged a kingdom…

…fought hopeless wars…

…become the greatest ruler that Shin Makoku had ever known…

All for Shibuya Yuuri.


End file.
